READ THE CITIZENS' VOICE

Digital Only Subscription
Read the digital e-Edition of The Citizens' Voice on your PC or mobile device, and have 24/7 access to breaking news, local sports, contests, and more at citizensvoice.com or on our mobile apps.

Digital Services
Have news alerts sent to your mobile device or email, read the e-Edition, sign up for daily newsletters, enter contests, take quizzes, download our mobile apps and see the latest e-circulars.

Contact Us
See department contacts, frequently asked questions, request customer service support, submit a photo or place an ad.

Related stories

WASHINGTON, D.C. - There have been only 57 presidential inaugurations in the history of the United States, and while millions watched the rare event at our nation's capital on television from their homes or offices, I was there, within throwing distance of the stage.

Also watching it on television.

After a subway ride in to the National Mall, uniformed police at every corner shepherded me and thousands of others to sidewalks gated or fenced off from the street. I felt like a mouse in a very crowded maze.

Three generations of the Heath family were waiting in the security line with me to enter the red zone, a section close to the stage but off to the side.

Karla Heath-Sands, a 50-year-old TV news anchor from Albany, Ga., her social studies teacher mother and two children in tow, said the reasons were plentiful for making the 10-hour drive to witness the rare event.

"To be a part of history," she said. "To say, 'We were there.'"

Once inside the red zone and past the ticket-checking Marines in their formal blue uniforms, we soon learned our proximity to the stage was a great big tease, as extended bleachers for the press blocked our view.

Stinking media got in the way.

A huge Jumbotron, situated to the right of the stage, entertained the crowd with inauguration trivia in the run up to the ceremony, such as the first president to be sworn in by a woman (Lyndon Baines Johnson) and the coldest Inauguration Day on record (7 degrees Fahrenheit for Ronald Reagan's second, which was mercifully moved inside the Capitol).

The musical interlude began and eventually celebrities Beyonce, Jay-Z, Eva Longoria, James Taylor, Rahm Emmanuel and the Rev. Al Sharpton all made appearances on the Jumbotron as they took their seats in the VIP section.

And then the politicians came out. When U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Wis., emerged from the Capitol and took his seat, he received some light boos from the audience, which then chuckled a bit at their own partisanship. In this massive crowd of hundreds of thousands, stretching from the Capitol building to the Washington Monument, Republicans were needles in a mile-long haystack.

The response was the same for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Unsurprisingly, former President Jimmy Carter, the Clintons and Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Elizabeth Warren got big ovations.

Our first glimpse of the president is a dim shot on the Jumbotron of the back of his head. A big cheer goes up and I hear one voice peep up somewhere behind me.

"I'd know those ears anywhere," it said.

After everyone was seated, first family included, we heard several speakers and witnessed the swearing in of the vice president and the president. Finally it was Barack Obama's turn to address the crowd. He gave a rousing speech, invoking the hot topics of gay rights, gender equality and global warming and the audience responds with energy.

Beyonce sang a powerful version of the national anthem and it was over.

During the ceremony, Courtney Ruark was sitting under a tree with her husband and 11-month-old son Ox, who was gumming a chocolate chip cookie.

The couple, who made the short trip from their home in Arlington, Va., took their baby when they knocked on doors for the Obama campaign and when they stood in-line to vote and they wanted him to be a part of the result. He may not remember attending, but "he'll know he was there," Ruark said.

I might have been watching on a big screen, achingly close to the stage, but I was too.

pcameron@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2110, @cvpetercameron

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.